ACSP: Chapter 167: Jinghai Crisis, The Hunt in the Secret Forest!
"I collected them over time and just kept putting them together. When I added everything up, it came to this many."
Jiang Chen shrugged casually, his voice remaining calm and indifferent, as though he were talking about something utterly insignificant.
Yet Li Dala and the others were left speechless by his explanation. Golden Chests—treasures considered priceless by countless people—and he had casually assembled so many of them?
"With that many Golden Chests, you actually managed to stop yourself from opening them?" Lei Li asked in disbelief.
He had tried stockpiling Golden Chests before, so he knew exactly how difficult it was to resist the temptation. His purpose in keeping them was to use them as motivation for his subordinates so they would work hard—to put it simply, drawing a pie for his employees. It wasn't just him; Old Granny Yan and several other managers of large gangs and families did the same thing. However, they never hoarded too many Gold Treasure Chests. Usually, having seven or eight sitting idle in the warehouse was considered decent. But someone like Jiang Chen, who hoarded dozens at a time, was someone he was seeing for the first time today. If it were him, with so many Gold Treasure Chests, he would have opened them long ago.
Jiang Chen smiled and said nothing. In fact, he had originally intended to open these Gold Treasure Chests as well. It was just that later, while grinding the [Cloud Thunder Canyon] secret realm, he discovered that he was gaining experience points too quickly. If he were to get experience points from opening the Gold Treasure Chests, wouldn't that be a waste? Therefore, he decided to save them for when he could no longer grind that secret realm. As a result, he ended up keeping them until now.
"Miss Luo, name your price."
After a brief moment of consideration, Jiang Chen finally decided to purchase the 300 billion explosive tags. If he ran out of chests, he could always farm more later. But these 300 billion explosive tags were different—President Xia Qianning had spent three years amassing them, mobilizing the resources and manpower of the entire General Chamber of Commerce. If he let this opportunity slip by today, there might never be another chance to acquire such a staggering quantity again.
"A—Alright."
Luo Yuqing swallowed nervously. With slightly trembling hands, she raised the bidding paddle high into the air.
In the next instant, the entire auction hall exploded into an uproar.
"Holy crap! Look! Room No. 1 on the third floor just raised its paddle again!"
"Damn it, why is it him every time?"
"That's fifty Gold Treasure Chests! How can he possibly afford that?"
"This guy is unbelievable. He already won the two most expensive lots in the auction, and now he's spending fifty Gold Treasure Chests on 300 billion Explosive Tags. I can't even imagine how wealthy he is."
"It's not just about wealth. Anyone capable of stockpiling Gold Treasure Chests is an absolute monster."
"I'm dying here. President Xia's plan is probably doomed this time."
"Exactly. She set the starting bid at fifty Gold Treasure Chests because she never expected anyone to actually buy those 300 billion Explosive Tags. But after this guy stepped in, she has no choice but to sell them."
"Well, there is one way out. The General Chamber of Commerce could send someone to outbid him and purchase the Explosive Tags themselves. Wouldn't that put them right back in their hands?"
"Bro, is this your first auction? Since when do organizers participate in their own bidding? Unless President Xia Qianning and the General Chamber of Commerce are planning to destroy their own reputation."
"Exactly. This is a matter of credibility. Once the General Chamber of Commerce loses the trust of its customers, who would ever dare do business with them again?"
As the discussions echoed throughout the auction hall, President Xia Qianning felt her mind go completely blank.
She never, ever expected that Jiang Chen would actually be able to afford the price of 50 Gold Treasure Chests. Those were Gold Treasure Chests—treasures that were priceless and hard to come by!
"How could this happen..."
President Xia Qianning clenched her fists tightly, and a rare look of panic appeared on her exquisite face.
She had started from scratch, using her own intelligence and talent to climb step by step to become the President of the Kang City General Chamber of Commerce. Later, when the Dimensional Era arrived, she defied all opposition and used the General Chamber of Commerce's management model to take over the entire East District of Kang City.
What kind of big scenes hadn't she seen? But today, she was truly panicked.
You have to understand, those 300 billion explosive tags were collected by their entire General Chamber of Commerce over three years, consuming countless manpower and resources. This was the core foundation upon which their General Chamber of Commerce stood in Kang City.
The reason why Qin Hao of the Evil God Organization hadn't given them a hard time back then was precisely because they had these explosive tags in their possession as a deterrent. If she handed over these explosive tags today, their General Chamber of Commerce would immediately become a turtle without its shell, leaving no security to speak of.
Although she herself was also a Kage-level Contractor, in this Kang City where experts were as numerous as clouds, relying solely on a single Kage-level Contractor could never protect the General Chamber of Commerce's immense wealth.
And even worse, her original purpose in bringing these explosive tags out to "show off" was simply to intimidate Jiang Chen...
As a result, Jiang Chen had now won the bid for those explosive tags. Wasn't she just shooting herself in the foot? This was too ironic.
At this moment, President Xia Qianning only hoped that someone would outbid him, or that another faction would step in to keep Jiang Chen in check and prevent a monopoly. But her hope ultimately fell through, because outside of Jiang Chen, absolutely no one in the entire venue could produce fifty Gold Treasure Chests.
Meanwhile, far away on the outskirts of Jinghai City, near the entrance to the [Forest of Death] secret realm, two figures streaked through the dense foliage at breathtaking speed.
The man in the lead was enveloped in emerald chakra steam, his movements swift and nimble as he bounded across the treetops, covering dozens of meters in a single leap. The person pursuing him was right on his heels, moving just as fast.
The two were none other than Ling Kai and Ronan, who had been locked in a relentless chase ever since leaving Kang City.
"Ronan, there's no deep grudge between us. Why do you insist on hounding me like this?" Ling Kai shouted over his shoulder, his voice strained and desperate.
For the past two days, he had been fighting and fleeing nonstop, clashing with Ronan repeatedly along the way. Deprived of proper rest, food, or water, he was rapidly approaching his physical limit.
Of course, Ronan wasn't faring much better. Having pursued him relentlessly for forty-eight hours straight, he was exhausted to the bone. Yet, he refused to slow down. After all, this was the very first independent mission Jiang Chen had ever entrusted to him.
"You tried to pull underhanded schemes against Jiang Chen," Ronan replied coldly, his eyes locked on his target as he accelerated. "The moment you chose to do that, you should've known this day would come."
Realizing Ling Kai's pace was finally flagging, Ronan closed the distance rapidly.
The two continued their high-speed sprint through the forest for another half an hour. But just as they neared the entrance of the [Forest of Death] secret realm, a cluster of disheveled figures suddenly burst out from the surrounding thicket. In the lead was a group of wounded survivors carrying a blood-soaked woman on their backs—she looked to be on the very brink of death.
"Huh? Aren't these..."
Ronan's expression hardened, and he abruptly slammed to a halt. He recognized them instantly: these were the companions who had been by Jiang Chen's side during their previous operation in Jinghai!
Before Ronan could call out, one of the frantic survivors, desperate and cornered, screamed out into the open air:
"If Jiang Chen won't leave me a way out, then he shouldn't expect to have an easy time either!"
"Wait, what's going on here?" Ronan's eyes narrowed as a deep sense of foreboding washed over him.
----
📚 Want to read the next 130+ chapters RIGHT NOW?
✨ Patreon members get instant access!
👉 Join on -
🌟 patreon .com/Rogue_Reader